There are indications that Walt Disney is close to trademarking the character name "Princess Aurora" for all media-- stage, sound, film, TV, video, Internet, photographs, news-- in short, everything except literature.
The name Aurora comes from the 1697 Charles Perrault fairy tale, and its first noted use was in Tchaikovsky's 1890 ballet "The Sleeping Beauty", which was the basis for the 1959 Disney animated film.
According to Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood, a successful trademark application would result in Disney effectively controlling the legal right to all future performances of the ballet. The move also could sink any movie about the ballet or that uses a scene of the ballet in another movie.
"This would be like a film studio trademarking the character name "Ebenezer Scrooge" for all media (no one has) and then no one could perform "A Christmas Carol" on a stage, TV, in a film, radio, etc. without first securing the right to use the name from the trademark owner," a critic told Finke.
Finke is calling for a campaign to complain to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for those that feel this trademarking of a pre-existing character name should not be allowed. You can email the PTO at TrademarkAssistanceCenter@uspto.gov and reference the following information:
SERIAL NUMBER: 77130191
MARK: PRINCESS AURORA
OWNER: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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